As the NHL lockout enters its fourth week with no solution on the horizon, a question is quietly being whispered: When are we going to see cracks in the armour?

While commissioner Gary Bettman maintains he has the support of all 30 teams in this battle with the NHL Players’ Association, not everybody is convinced it will stay that way with two weeks of the regular season already toast.

Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly showed up on the NHLPA’s doorstep Friday for a private meeting out of the spotlight with executive director Donald Fehr and his brother Steve Fehr, who is acting as special counsel in negotiations.

The belief is not everybody on the NHL’s board of governors is happy the league is in the midst of its third lockout in 20 years — all with Bettman at the helm — and he’s getting some heat to try to find a solution.

“My guess is you’ve got about 10 teams that are pretty nervous right now,” said a league insider. “But (Bettman) has the power of the executive committee behind him.”

San Jose Sharks defenceman Dan Boyle told CSN Bay Area Friday he believes a small group of teams are steering the ship.

“It doesn’t make any sense to me that eight teams can control the fate of 22 other ones,” Boyle said. “When players make comments, sometimes it’s directed towards 30 owners, but a lot of us feel that it’s not across the board. It’s a certain group of teams that are controlling 30 others.”

Not everybody disagrees with Boyle’s theory.

The NHL owners are now suffering real losses. First, the league took a hit of $100 million by cancelling the pre-season. Then, 82 games in the first two weeks of the regular schedule were wiped out, so those revenues are gone. It won’t stop there.

Since there’s no sign there’s going to be a deal soon, you can assume October is history, which means the $3.3 billion pot the owners and players are trying to find a way to split up will only get smaller.

As the lockout gets longer, you wonder how New York Rangers owner Jim Dolan, who has had his battles with the league, is feeling about this fight?

Madison Square Garden is a licence to print money. He can spend what he wants.

Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson is viewed as a “dove” in this lockout. Not only is he taking a hit at the box office with no events at the Bell Centre, beer sales of his product on both sides of the border will be down.

Yup, it’s a double whammy for Molson’s bottom-line.

Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula has enough cash to operate the franchise in whatever fashion he chooses. Philadelphia Flyers Ed Snider loves to spend and badly wants a Stanley Cup. The landscape has changed in a lot of places since the lockout in 2004-05.

All this sometimes leaves you wondering where this battle will end?

The owners got “cost-certainty” through a cap the last time we were in this situation. It wouldn’t seem it is worth losing a season this time, since the framework is there to put a deal in place.

The insider with knowledge of the bargaining suggested Bettman has the support from the board of governors and those who don’t like the idea of the lockout are sitting silent to see if the NHL can get the union to bend.

“The dissenters are being quiet and waiting to see how far (Bettman) can (make) Fehr go,” he said.

The dissenters have no choice. Speaking out could mean a fine of up to $1 million and a loss of draft choices.

Bettman has been handed the keys to the house, but he’d better find a way to unlock the door or it could get interesting.

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